SU&SD - Shut Up & Sit Down

Review: Abyss

Quinns: Paul, you’re tracking water on the carpet and you’ve got a starfish on your forehead.

Paul: Oh! Sorry. I’ve been running around the undersea realm of Bruno Cathala’s Abyss. Don’t worry, though. Written reviews are rarely canonical so the carpet will probably be fine.

Quinns: What?

Paul: Well, it’ll be fine in the canonical universe. After this review finishes our story will return to the SU&SD godhead and this reality will, in all likelihood, be erased.

Quinns: What?!

Paul: You know, like how I killed you in our review of Descent 2nd edition.

Quinns: WHAT? But I’ve still got so much to live for! I wanted a wedding-

Paul: Life is full of surprises, and so is Abyss! Let me get these barnacles out of my ears and I’ll explain.

Subscriptions are on hold, and we're extending the donation season

Hello donors!

We opened the current donation season for Gold Club #4 a little late, so we’re going to be accepting donations for a little longer and shipping the bag a little later (though above you can see a SNEAK PREVIEW of Paul’s forthcoming RPG module, The Lair of the Bee Lord, illustrated by Steve Hogarty). This also lets people who’d like access to our new forums (see that button in the upper right?) still make any donation at all to get access.

Since all subscriptions that were scheduled to bill you guys on the 1st of October would go towards Gold Club bag #5, we’ve put all subscriptions on hold and will re-activate them next month once we’ve had time to catch our breath. Those of you who’d still like to make a regular donation towards nothing more than the continued running of the site can still do so via a one-time donation.

Thanks so much everybody!

— Team SU&SD

Hello everybody!

It’s an exciting day for us. First off, our fourth ever donation season is now open but will close at the end of September, so if you’d like to support us or want in on the 4th Gold Club please pledge in the next 12 days. Unless you’re a subscriber, of course, in which case you can sit back, crack your knuckles and feel a sense of harmony with the universe.

But wait! There’s more! An early test version of the official SU&SD forums is now open to anyone who’s ever made account with us by donating. There’s no need to be in the Gold Club to get an account. Whatever donation you like will get you in there if you’d like to chat about board games, roleplaying games, or just how to fix Finland.

Thanks so much for the support, everybody.

— Team SU&SD

Matt: I don’t know if this is by far the silliest thing we’ve ever reviewed…

Paul: …and I don’t even know if that matters or not. Is PitchCar silly? Is it also possibly the simplest game to ever grace our (web)pages? Is it even a board game?

Matt: Do we even care?

Paul: Will we ever stop using the word “even”?

Quinns: Morning, everybody! I’m not 100% sure what happened to me this weekend, but this vine exists so I suppose it was pretty awesome.

Once again our top story is the one with the prettiest image, again proving that SU&SD is as shallow and corrupt as a dwarven bidet. What you see above is Realm of Wonder, an upcoming Finnish game that’s caught the attention of indefatigable outlet BoardGameGeek News. Each player controls a fantasy character trying to complete a secret objective, then return to the king’s castle.

But there are problems! The two innermost continents of the board can be physically rotated, locking new paths in place and (hopefully) leaving your friends stranded in some faerie bog. And while Realm of Wonder can be played with young children, advanced rules add bluffing, the claiming of resource pools, magic spells, monstrous combat and the fantasy equivalent of road blocks.

Paul: OK. That title isn’t accurate at all.

Quinns: Yes, but “Our Favourite 7 Games From Gen Con ’14 and One Game We Were Disappointed By” sounds silly and doesn’t fit.

Paul: Fair enough. Wait, which game were we disappointed by? I thought everything was pretty great.

Quinns: You’ll have to click through and FIND OUT!

Paul: But I work here

Going to Gen Con? Meet SU&SD this Friday!

Quinns: Above is one of the many, many confusing Google Image Search results for Gen Con. Gamers who’ve given up on the concept of hotels and are just sleeping in halls. This will truly be our team’s most noble adventure.

Alas, our live podcast on Saturday is now sold out. But if you’d still like to meet us, we’ll be at the Tomlinson Tap Room this Friday from 8pm onwards as part of the Pretend Money collective, a group of amazing people (and also us) who want to make board gaming better through technology.

Come along! Drink a beer. Bring a game. Teach a game! Make Paul sign your copy of Fluxx. We very much hope to see you there.

Yes, we’re still playing the Star Wars: Edge of Empire roleplaying game! No, our intrepid gang of sob stories and space-wastrels hasn’t been arrested yet, and they await you in our podcast section. Or you can go here for all the sessions so far in one place. Do disinfect yourself after you visit with them, won’t you?

In session #3 the gang stretch their luck to the very limits by attempting a heist at the height of a terrible electric storm. And… oh, no. Are they really pretending to be musicians as a cover story? With no knowledge of music, and no musical paraphernalia at all?

Paul: No video today, as this week we were assembling 2200 of our Season 3 Gold Club bags! Also Matt had some kind of disease and may now be dead(?).*

Quinns: Next week will be a stomper, though, with coverage of Street Wars, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective AND Nations. Then the week after that our entire team will be reporting from Gen Con ’14 and trying to blag our way into the sold-out True Dungeon! Actually, if any of you guys have a spare ticket and want to let Brendan fulfill his destiny by becoming an actual bard, please email the address at the bottom of the site.

Now LIVE in our podcast section is part 2 of our entirely amazing Star Wars adventures! In this session our team of heroes arrive at a space station, kill an orc (kind of), succeed at crime (mostly) and (almost) begin working as a team. I’m calling it now. There is no way this ends well.

If you missed part 1, we should stress that we haven’t retreated into a child-like fantasy world and are in fact playing the new Star Wars RPG. Newcomers will definitely want to check out part 1 where our story begins.

The dramatic caper of the Crap Plastic Artifact will conclude next week!

Review: Abyss

Subscriptions are on hold, and we’re extending the donation season

Donations are now open!

Review: PitchCar

Games News! 25/08/14

Our Favourite 8 Games From Gen Con 2014!

Going to Gen Con? Meet SU&SD this Friday!

Amazing Star Wars Adventures! Pt. 3

That’s all for this week!

Amazing Star Wars Adventures! Pt. 2

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